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Glite Dictionary
coal house

coal house

6.0
A small shed near a house where people keep coal for heating
  • noun
  • /koʊl haʊs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : cobertizo de carbón
  • The old coal house in the backyard was filled with dust and forgotten tools.

Examples

  • The children played near the coal house while their parents unloaded the truck.

  • I pushed it back to the coal house and left it there.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • He put a rock in it and slung it up beside the coal house.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • We always stored our firewood next to the coal house for easy access during winter.

Synonyms

coalbin
vscoal house
  • Archaic
6.6

A container in a house for keeping coal for a stove

is a small separate shed used outside a house rather than a container
coalhole
vscoal house
  • Archaic
9.6

A small place under or beside a house that holds coal

is a freestanding shed near a house instead of an inbuilt compartment

Surface Forms

coal house singular
coal houses plural

Morphology

coal + house

The meaning 'a building for storing coal' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'coal' (the fuel) with 'house' (a building); the second noun denotes a place and the first specifies its contents/purpose. Noun–noun compounds that name containers or purpose-built structures are common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer this meaning.

Etymology

The name coal house was literally a small shed where families kept their coal next to the house. People would fetch coal from it to heat their homes, so the name means 'a place to store coal'.